According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the country’s August production reached 69.79 million mt of pig iron (up 1.0% year-on-year, down 1.43% month-on-month), 77.37 million mt of crude steel (down 0.7% y-o-y and 2.87% m-o-m), and 122.77 million mt of finished steel (up 9.7% y-o-y and slightly down 0.15% m-o-m).
This is the second consecutive month that crude steel production fell below 80 million mt, following a similar decline in July. The drop was mainly driven by production cuts in Tianjin and Tangshan ahead of the military parade scheduled in Beijing on September 3, in addition to unseasonal high temperatures and weak demand in the domestic market.
During the first eight months of the year, China’s total output reached 579.07 million mt of pig iron (down 1.1% y-o-y), 671.81 million mt of crude steel (down 2.8%), and 982.17 million mt of finished steel (down 5.5%).
The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) also reported that during late August (August 21–31), the average daily crude steel output at large- and medium-sized steelmakers – its members – stood at 1.947 million mt, a decline of 8% compared with mid-August (August 11–20).
